Saturday, 8 June 2013

#FreeMyInternet Protest @ Hong Lim Park, 8 Jun 13

Over 1,500 Singaporeans protest at rally against new online rules

Reuters/REUTERS - Protesters walk past a mock gravestone that reads "RIP
Freedom of Speech" during a protest against new licensing regulations
imposed by the government for online news sites, at Hong Lim Park in Singapore June 8, 2013Over 1,500 protestors turned up at the Free My Internet rally
in Hong Lim Park on Saturday afternoon to protest against the Media
Development Authority's (MDA) licensing scheme for online news sites.The
five-hour peaceful demonstration at the Speaker's Corner was organised
by a group of popular social-political bloggers who felt that the new
regime could severely curtail their freedom of speech. Calling
the protest "just the beginning" in a "sustained campaign for the
withdrawal of MDA's regime", the organisers repeatedly demanded that the
new regulations be revoked.

Some 2,500 Singaporeans led by local bloggers staged a protest at the
Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park Saturday, seeking the government to
withdraw its new licensing requirement imposed on local news websites.The peaceful rally was organised by a group of bloggers called
#FreeMyInternet, who are against the licensing regime, which came into
force on June 1.The group believes this to be an attempt at censorship and an
infringement on the rights of Singaporeans to access information online.read moreSPH & MediaCorp agree with TOC on crowd size!And it’s a whooping 2,000++! Wah lan! Pigs can fly!I had predicted when I read that TOC reported “Over 2000 are at Hong Lim Park for the protest”, that, “SPH
and MediaCorp will report, “Less than 500 turned up at Hong Lim
protest”. Err I was wrong: CNA reported “Some 2,000 Singaporeans …”,
while ST reported that between 2,000 and 2,500 people turned up.So why did our constructive, nation-building media report numbers
that tally with that of TOC’s, and not come lower? One would have tot
that it was in the interest of the perceived PAP-sream media to downplay
the extent of the unhappiness. Getting 2,000 to 2,500 S’poreans out at
very short notice (less than a week) is a very good achievement, no a
great feat, on the part of the organisers. And shows the extent of the
unhappiness with Yaacob’s regulation to make sure S’poreans get the
“right” facts.read moreHong Lim Park: Online protest goes offline

At one corner of Hong Lim Park is a tombstone marking the demise of
freedom of speech. Death by regulation, it said. People took photographs
of it – and by it. There was a carnival-like atmosphere with the
smallish crowd entertained by Joshua Chiang and Patrick Chng, singing
freshly-composed lyrics to old John Lennon and Tom Petty songs. A
sample: “We want the truth.” “We won’t back down.” It was 4pm and baking
hot. Sweat dripped from the brows of those who donned
specially-produced black Free My Internet tee-shirts, sold for $10 at
one end of the park.But once the speakers got on, everything got serious. More people
streamed into the park. The organisers did a physical count and claimed
that at its height, there were 2,000 people. They were youngish people,
quite different from the crowd at the May Day rally. Those who spoke
were articulate people, a list of who’s who in the blogosphere.Most of the arguments have been surfaced before although each added
his own stamp of personality to what he or she said. Some were outright
condemnatory: the regulations were described variously as “stupid”,
“heavy-handed” and “arbitrary”. “Stupid” was the most common word.read moreFree My Internet: protest at Hong Lim Park Part 2I’m grateful to the coalition of alternative media for organizing the FREE MY INTERNET protest at Hong Lim Park yesterday.I’m also proud of my fellow bloggers who turned up in full force.Thanks to MDA’s censorship, for that is what it actually amounts to
amid all its mumbo jumbo, the world is once again reminded that
Singapore is a de facto dictatorship. Bloomberg, Himalayan Times, Japan Today, The Sun (UK) and others highlighted news about the protest.read more

Not Well Thought-Out

Recently, the Media Development Authority's (MDA) issued a licensing
scheme for online news sites in Singapore. Angered by the new ruling, a
five-hour demonstration took place on Saturday afternoon at the Speaker's
Corner

Organized by a group of popular social-political bloggers, over
1,500 protestors turned up at the “Free My Internet” rally. I wasn’t one of
them. I wasn’t there because…well, I have no idea what this new licensing
scheme is for

And I’m not the only one. Now if the MDA is saying that there need to be rules for
internet websites like those for mainstream media; fine. I don't like it but I can understand it. However this new licensing
scheme is not the solution.

Singaporeans are fed, up with censorshipMany have speculated about what is the true intent of the Singapore
government’s recently announced new licensing regime for news websites.
We of course got some insight from Minister Yaacob Ibrahim’s statement
about the need for Singaporeans to read the “right” thing online. More
important, but less widely reported, was his definition of what the
“right” things might be. A more complete quote of what he said to the BBC is:

“We want to protect the interest of the ordinary
Singaporean. As long as they go online to read the news I think it’s
important to make sure that they read the ‘right thing’, insofar as if
there’s an event yesterday it is reported accurately.”

MDA appear to have re-iterated the point on accuracy and good intent in their emailed response to Mr Ngerng who blogs at The Hearth Truths. They wrote inter aliaread more

At least we have options of colours for our flats under Workers’ Party

Looking at the new MDA licensing for internet, it
means you have less options and perhaps only one option - the ‘right thing’ media.
So, it is important to have strong oppositions in the Parliament to increase
the options or best still a change of government.

There are quite a number of flats that need a fresh look
under the Repair and Redecoration programme at Paya Lebar estate. The money, of
course, comes from the sinking fund – part of the monthly maintenance fees that
we pay to the town council

I believe this is the first time residents will have
the options to select the colours of our flats. Under the PAP town council, decision was made
under the group thinking of grassroots leaders, CCC, RC and MPs. They made decisions on our behalf and the
contractors carried out the painting accordingly.

A man reaches behind a fake tombstone representing the death of free
speech at the Speakers Corner on Saturday in Singapore. (AP Photo)About 1,000 Singaporeans rallied on Saturday
against a new government policy that requires some news websites to
obtain licences and possibly remove offensive content.The policy that took effect on June 1 has led to criticism that authorities are trying to enforce online media censorship.Newspapers and television have long been tightly supervised in
Singapore, and officials maintain the website policy is not meant to
muzzle freedom of expression.

A man covers his mouth with a 50 dollar bill representing the lost of
free speech to protest a new government policy that requires news
websites to obtain licenses at the Speakers Corner in Singapore on
Saturday, June 8, 2013. (AP / Wong Maye-E)

About 1,000 Singaporeans have rallied to protest a new government policy that requires some news websites to obtain licenses.

The policy that took effect this month has triggered criticism that
authorities in this Southeast Asian city-state are trying to enforce
online media censorship. Officials maintain the rule is not meant to
muzzle freedom of expression.

Websites that report regularly on Singaporean news and attract at least
50,000 visitors a month are now required to obtain annual licenses.
They must remove any content considered objectionable by the government
within 24 hours of notification.

Protesters rally in Singapore against new online rulesAround 2,000 Singaporeans led by local bloggers attended a rally
Saturday to protest against new government licensing rules for news
websites that they say curtail freedom of expression.The
peaceful, three-hour rally, held at a free-speech park called Speakers’
Corner, was organised by a coalition of bloggers called “Free My
Internet” to oppose the regulations which came into force this month.“The
message today is that the government must trust us, and stop treating
us like babies,” said Choo Zheng Xi, a spokesman for the group and
co-founder of popular political news website The Online Citizen.read moreSingaporeans oppose new law for news sitesAbout 1,000 Singaporeans rallied on Saturday to protest against a new
government policy that requires some news websites to obtain licences
and possibly remove offensive content.The policy that took
effect this month has triggered criticism that authorities in this
Southeast Asian city-state are trying to enforce online media
censorship. Newspapers and television have long been tightly supervised
in Singapore, and officials maintain the website policy is not meant to
muzzle freedom of expression.Websites that report regularly on
Singaporean news and attract at least 50,000 visitors a month are now
required to obtain annual licenses. They must remove any content
considered objectionable by the government within 24 hours of
notification.read more‘Free My Internet’: Hundreds march in Singapore against website licensing regimeA protester stands with a placard during a rally at a free-speech park
called Speakers' Corner in Singapore on June 8, 2013 (AFP Photo / Roslan
Rahman)In Singapore, up to 2,000 activists lead by local bloggers staged a
rally against recently introduced licensing rules for news websites,
including breaches of “racial or religious harmony”, which protesters
see as an attack on freedom of expression.A crowd with posters denouncing “internet censorship” gathered on
Saturday in Speakers’ Corner at Hong Lim Park to demand the
withdrawal of the policy. The peaceful demonstration in the
Southeast Asian city-state was organized by a group of bloggers
called “Free My Internet.”The message of the gathering - “the government must trust us, and
stop treating us like babies,” said Choo Zheng Xi, the group’s
spokesperson. “It is an international embarrassment when
governments around the world are working to deregulate the
Internet, and Singapore, one of the wealthiest nations per
capita, is going in the opposite direction," the activist
told AFP.read moreThe real reason behind online crackdown

Lee Hsien Loong in his first national day speech in 2004 as prime
minister invoked Chairman Mao’s “let the hundred flowers bloom”.

He added “… we are going to do is to open up the Speakers’ Corner
where you can go and make any speech you like and we are going to say,
‘Well, if you want to go there and have an exhibition, go ahead.”

And now, less than a decade after his speech, not just a hundred
flowers have blossomed, cyberspace and Hong Lim Park have merged into
one gigantic political force never seen before in Singapore’s history.
This certainly was not what he anticipated.

Singapore struggles to control cyberspaceOne of the most wired countries in the world looks set to implement
new media regulations seen by some as a bid to stifle independent news
and information.According to the law, websites that frequently report on Singapore
news will have to apply for a license under the Media Development
Authority.They will be required to pay a deposit of 50,000 Singapore
dollars ($39,500) and will be subjected to government content
regulations that demand objectionable content be removed within 24
hours.read more

MDA new rules: The Hong Lim event

Approximately 1,500 people showed up. Not bad if the number is correct but the number seems many times more online. Naturally.In other pics, I see many middle aged and older folks. That is quite
unexpected. Were they care free retirees? More there to observe than to
stand up for this cause?What happened to an aerial shot which they had in previous gatherings?
May be that would suggest that far fewer than 1,500 peopleread moreFree My Internet: protest at Hong Lim ParkAt his swearing-in ceremony after the last general election, the
Prime Minister asserted, “Our politics cannot remain static either. More
interest groups and alternative views have emerged, competing for
support. Our political system can and must accommodate more views, more
debate and more participation.”The duplicity is crystal clear.He also said, “…the Government will engage all segments of society –
young and old, students, workers and retirees. We will reach out online
and in the real world. We will listen carefully to different voices,
understand the day-to-day difficulties and strains facing Singaporeans,
address their concerns and be open to inputs on what Government can do
better.”read more

Singapore's Websites Call for Saturday Protest

Asia Sentinel, 7 Jun 2013

More than 160 Singaporean websites are calling for concerned citizens to
assemble Saturday in Hong Lim Park, the site of the city's Speaker's
Corner, to protest stringent new licensing requirements imposed by the
Media Development Authority (MDA) on bloggers and other websites last
week

The bloggers have launched a campaign using the Twitter hashtag
#FreeMyInternet to spread the word about the campaign. Online
commentators have expressed concern over the breadth of the definition
of "online news sites," warning that it could sweep in blogs that
discuss a wide range of issues, and websites that enable users to
discuss online content. Full story

Singapore's Websites Call for Saturday ProtestMore than 160 Singaporean websites are calling for concerned citizens to
assemble Saturday in Hong Lim Park, the site of the city's Speaker's
Corner, to protest stringent new licensing requirements imposed by the
Media Development Authority (MDA) on bloggers and other websites last
week.The bloggers closed down their sites Thursday for 24 hours to protest implementation of the new lawsThe bloggers have launched a campaign using the Twitter hashtag
#FreeMyInternet to spread the word about the campaign. Online
commentators have expressed concern over the breadth of the definition
of "online news sites," warning that it could sweep in blogs that
discuss a wide range of issues, and websites that enable users to
discuss online content. read moreSingapore once had a free pressIt wasn’t always this way. The media in Singapore wasn’t always
state-controlled. We didn’t always have the Newspaper and Printing
Presses Act (NPPA). Our newspapers were not always run by a behemoth,
monopolistic publisher whose key senior appointments are
government-approved people and the biggest stakeholders are
government-linked.Our press once comprised a spectrum of independently run newspapers
that presented different points of views and different communities—which
stood up for what they believed in.The NPPA, which requires publishers to obtain and renew licenses to
publish and controls ownership of publishers, came into being in 1974.
Singapore Press Holdings was established only 10 years later, in 1984.read more

It is not about the Internet alone. We need to free the media as a wholeSingapore has come some way since the days of near absolute information
control and a pervasive climate of fear. As a teenager in the 1980s, I
remember clearly the oppressive political environment within which
alternative voices and opposition politicians were operating. Even when
engaging in coffee shop conversation, there was a tendency amongst many
of us to speak less audibly when it came to politics (or not at all) or
to cast glances at possible undercover ISD officers.This was
especially so in the wake of the arrests and detention of alleged
Marxist conspirators in 1987. There were many that believed in the
official version. There were many that didn't. But, one thing was for
sure. We knew that Big Brother was watching.From the time that JBJ broke through in the Anson by-election in 1981,
there arose a certain excitement and expectation that more alternative
voices would enter Parliament. In the years that followed, there was a
growing interest in opposition politics and alternative news. Those
days, with absolute control of the print media being exercised by the
state, there was very little by way of alternative sources. Many of us
read in between the lines to make up our minds. Newspapers that
appeared to display an independent streak quickly disappeared. I
managed to get much of my independant information from foreign
publications or books available across the causeway.read more

FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE REASSURES USERS THAT THEIR INFORMATION IS NOT GIVEN FREELY TO THE GOVERNMENT

America's tech giants continued to deny
any knowledge of a giant government surveillance programme called Prism,
even as president Barack Obama confirmed the scheme's existence Friday. In a blogpost titled 'What the…?' Google
co-founder Larry Page and chief legal officer David Drummond said the
"level of secrecy" around US surveillance procedures was undermining
"freedoms we all cherish.""First, we have not joined any program
that would give the US government – or any other government – direct
access to our servers. Indeed, the US government does not have direct
access or a "back door" to the information stored in our data centers.
We had not heard of a program called Prism until yesterday," they wrote.read more

Human rights group urges Singapore to pull web licensing schemeAn international human rights group has joined calls for the Singapore government to drop a new licensing regime to regulate online news sites.In a statement posted on its website
on Friday, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that “the new rules will
further discourage independent commentary and reporting on the Internet
in Singapore”.Announced by the Media Development Authority (MDA)
on Tuesday last week, the scheme requires online news sites with
significant reach and that regularly report on Singapore to apply for
individual licences. Under that type of licence, the sites would have to
post a S$50,000 "performance bond" and take down objectionable content
within 24 hours of being ordered to by the media watchdog.read more

SINGAPORE: Around 2,000 Singaporeans led by local bloggers attended a
rally Saturday to protest against new government licensing rules for
news websites that they say curtail freedom of expression. The peaceful,
three-hour rally, held at a free-speech ...

In Singapore, up to 2,000 activists lead by local bloggers staged a
rally against recently introduced licensing rules for news websites,
including breaches of “racial or religious harmony”, which protesters
see as an attack on freedom of expression. A crowd with ...

SINGAPORE: About 1,000 Singaporeans rallied on Saturday to protest
against a new government policy that requires some news websites to
obtain licences and possibly remove offensive content. The policy that
took effect this month has triggered criticism ...

SINGAPORE -- About 1,000 Singaporeans have rallied to protest a new
government policy that requires some news websites to obtain licenses.
The policy that took effect this month has triggered criticism that
authorities in this Southeast Asian city-state are ...

SINGAPORE — About 1,000 Singaporeans rallied on Saturday against a new
government policy that requires some news websites to obtain licences
and possibly remove offensive content. The policy that took effect on
June 1 has led to criticism that ...

Some 2,000 Singaporeans led by local bloggers attended a rally at the
Speakers' Corner on Saturday to protest against the new licensing regime
for local news websites. PHOTOS; VIDEOS. People gather to listen to
bloggers making speeches during a rally ...

About 1,000 Singaporeans rallied Saturday to protest a new government
policy that requires some news websites to obtain licenses and possibly
remove offensive content. The policy that took effect this month has
triggered criticism that authorities in this ...

Singapore's government is set to tighten regulations for news websites -
a move that has drawn accusations that the authorities are trying to
control blogs that post anti-government comments. But press censorship
is nothing new, and in countries around the ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch said on Friday that Singapore
is undercutting its status as a financial center by expanding media
censorship to the web and urged the city-state's government to withdraw
the new licensing requirement for online ...

Over 130 Singaporean web sites blacked out their home pages yesterday
in protest at new government licensing regulations which critics claim
will lead to greater online censorship in the city-state. The
participating web sites and blogs, which some sources ...

Singapore's first online blackout protest officially ended at midnight
with many bloggers and website owners returning their sites to normal.
The final count of sites that joined the protest against new Media
Devolopment Authority (MDA) licensing rules stood at ...

By Eveline Danubrata. SINGAPORE, June 7 | Fri Jun 7, 2013 12:06am EDT.
SINGAPORE, June 7 (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch said on Friday that
Singapore is undercutting its status as a financial centre by expanding
media censorship to the web and ...

SINGAPORE - The Government's new licensing framework for news websites
is not a "fundamental shift" in policy and is in line with its "light
touch" approach to regulating the Internet, said Minister for
Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim on June ...

More than 150 Singapore websites and blogs blacked out their content
yesterday in protest against the Government's controversial new rules
for licensing online news sites. Under rules announced by the Media
Development Authority (MDA) last week, sites ...

Over 130 Singaporean bloggers blacked out their homepages Thursday to
protest new licensing rules for news websites they say will muzzle
freedom of expression. The 134 participants, including individual
bloggers and community-based blogs, replaced ...

SINGAPORE - Over 130 Singaporean bloggers blacked out their homepages
Thursday in protest at new licencing rules for news websites they say
will muzzle freedom of expression. A person browses through media
websites on a computer in Singapore on ...

At midnight on Wednesday, over 100 Singaporeans sites and blogs went
dark as part of a coordinated protest against the new MDA licensing
scheme. RELATED STORIES. MDA: Bloggers not affected by new rules · New
MDA licensing scheme for news ...

Singapore is not the only country tweaking the laws governing
traditional and online media, Communications and Information Minister Dr
Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday. New Zealand and Britain are also
reviewing their regulatory approaches and ...

A person browses through media websites on a computer in Singapore on
May 30, 2013. Yahoo Singapore indicated yesterday that it will comply
with a controversial licensing framework for online news sites, though
it does not deem the new rules necessary.

Yahoo! has gained popularity as an alternative news and opinion source
in Singapore, where the mainstream media is widely seen as
pro-government - PHOTO: AP. [SINGAPORE] Yahoo! Singapore said on
Wednesday that new rules requiring the licensing ...

Singapore: Singapore bloggers are planning a rally and an "Internet
blackout" this week to protest controversial new rules they say will
muzzle freedom of speech, organisers said Monday. A coalition of 34
prominent bloggers called "Free My Internet" will ...

Yahoo! has broken its silence on the new licensing rules for online
news sites in Singapore, which kicked in on June 1. The response came in
a posting on its webpage by Alan Soon, Yahoo!'s country manager for
Singapore and managing editor for ...